The Angel and his Treasure
by Otorisosa-kan
Summary: He dreamed of her but when he met her, he didn't recognize him nor did she recognize him. Cycle 011 was when things began to change.
1. Chapter 1

Sephiroth's eyes snapped open when he saw the pair of burning red eyes again. He sat up and regained his bearings. Looking up at the empty darkness above him, he didn't bother watching the green energy that was the illusion of the Lifestream. He couldn't find it. The memory from where the eyes had come from. Those eyes had haunted him since the first day he remembered being in this world, fighting for the god named Chaos. There was no-one significant on his team with eyes of blood nor were there anyone on Cosmos's side that had those brightly coloured eyes.

The Cloud of Darkness, he accused them for poisoning his rest with awful visions of blood, fire and an alien feeling within his chest. They denied it of course and Sephiroth concluded that he had little evidence to prove that she was responsible for his disturbed sleep. Ultimecia, a witch but a witch of time, not of dreams. She couldn't be responsible for his unwanted visions. Sephiroth's instinct told him that it was a woman he was seeing, even though he could only see her eyes. He could also hear her. Every time he would see those eyes, he could make out broken words from a woman's voice.

Then in the ninth cycle, he saw a new addition to Cosmos's team. Tifa Lockhart, they called her. She was a martial artist and she was from his world. So he approached her, crossed blades with her and took a good look over her. She was very feminine for her age and she showed impressive strength. She had red eyes like Sephiroth had envisioned but they weren't as bright as he had seen. No, this wasn't the woman who haunted his sleep. She didn't have the spark of naivety or youthful aura around her. She was more mature, stronger. So he defeated her ruthlessly and walked off, feeling rather frustrated.

During the tenth cycle, there was a rumour that Cosmos had a new warrior that wasn't fighting. In fact, this warrior was secret to even the rest of Cosmos's team. It seemed that she was working as a strategist and designing armour and weapons for the team. Sephiroth listened closely to Locke describing this girl. He was lucky enough to even sneak into the enemy's base to get a glimpse of this warrior. Chaos seemed interested to see this warrior's abilities too and Sephiroth felt frustrated when Locke only described her as a young cute girl. He confronted the thief later, asking for a more accurate appearance. Locke estimated that she was about sixteen and she had long black hair. He didn't get a chance to see her face.

Sephiroth dreamed of those haunting eyes once more when he was slipping out of consciousness when Cloud had defeated him.

"_Sephiroth," _that naïve voice said his name.

Sephiroth wanted to see more of her. All he could take from this girl was the bright blood red eyes that looked up at him, the smell of apples coming from her and her laughs. They weren't laughs out of spite, sadistic pleasure nor malice. A true genuine laugh of happiness. This girl seemed to be bright and positive, like there was no war going on. Sephiroth was curious about what was making her so happy.

"_Sephiroth," _she spoke again and the eyes closed, her pale eyelids and eyelashes the only things he could see now _"I miss you."_

"If you miss me so much to haunt my dreams," Sephiroth replied to her "Then come to me."

There was a gasp and the eyes opened, twinkling happily.

* * *

Sephiroth woke up in water. Masamune was by his side which he quickly snatched and put her away in her sheath. He froze when he realised that he was not alone. He turned and saw a young girl unconscious near him. She had long black hair and pale white skin. She was clad in just black shorts and a red shirt that draped over her right shoulder. She didn't wear anything on her feet apart from a gold anklet with a Gil coin attached to it. He slowly approached her and noticed a Materia bracer and a large baseball bat with nails sticking out of it next to her. A Materia bracer, she must be from his world. To his knowledge, the other worlds didn't use Materia. When he got closer, he caught the scent of apples which seemed familiar to him but he didn't know why.

The girl stirred in her sleep as he carefully took her bracer and took a look at the Materia inside. It was pretty basic since it was the start of the cycle. There were five slots, containing Fire, Lightning, Ice, Earth and Restore. The girl moaned and she opened her eyes, looking up at Sephiroth.

"Who are you?" she asked and lifted herself up into a sitting position.

Sephiroth looked at her and saw her blood red eyes. He felt that this girl was significant to him but he didn't know why. He placed her Materia bracer down.

"My name is Sephiroth," he said "I'm a warrior of Chaos."

"Sephiroth…Chaos…" the girl looked down as she slowly processed the information then looked up at him "My name is Anne Lockhart."

"Are you with Cosmos or Chaos?" Sephiroth asked.

"I don't know."

Sephiroth sighed and stood up.

"What do you remember about yourself?" he asked as he picked the baseball bat up and fingered it gingerly.

"I…I…I'm sixteen and I design weapons and armour."

Sephiroth looked down at her lazily and helped her up.

"I think you'll be a useful asset to the Chaos warriors," he said and handed her the bracer and bat "Come with me."

Anne looked at the bracer and bat before snapping the bracer on and taking Sephiroth's hand. As they walked, she idly swung her bat back and forth, their feet making small discrete splashes in the water. Sephiroth didn't know why, but he squeezed her hand gently and she squeezed back.


	2. Chapter 2

Anne watched expectantly as Garland took up his new weapon that she improved and spent hours on. Her hands were singed slightly and her face was covered in dirt. She wiped her brow and watched Garland test out the new features to his sword. After five minutes, Garland just walked away. Anne furrowed her brow in frustration.

"What, not even a thank you?" she spat in contempt.

Garland stopped and turned to her.

"…Your talents are very useful."

And he disappeared around the corner. Anne sighed and fell onto her bench.

"Sheesh, would it kill to even say thank and you together?" she asked to the wall in front of her.

She curled her knees into her chest and wiped away the tears from her eyes. Here she was, in the lair of Chaos. Cooped up just around the corner where she had her tools and materials to make weapons and armour. There wasn't even a sink where she could wash the dirt off her hands and face. There was absolutely no-one that appreciated her efforts. She even went the extra mile with some weapons when an upgrade idea occurred to her. Only Sephiroth seemed to stop by to give her food and spend five minutes with her before leaving. Anne yawned tiredly and rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes to drift off to sleep.

"Get up, girl."

Anne winced when something hit her calf sharply and opened her eyes, glaring at the emperor who towered over her with an unfriendly sneer.

"What do you want?" she asked tiredly.

"My boots are worn out. Make me another pair."

Anne snarled and got up, gesturing for him to sit.

"In my world, we say please," she spat as he seated himself on the bench and bent down to measure his boots.

Mateus said nothing, just watched Anne take note of his measurements then taking off a boot to examine it.

"Oh, I see how they got worn out easily," she sighed and tapped one of the boots "They're made out of gold. Very weak."

"Well? What are you going to do about it?" Mateus snapped at her.

Anne's brow twitched as she looked up at him.

"I'm going to make a better pair of boots so you won't come back so soon," she snarled as she got up and grabbed her hammer.

She grabbed her supply of diamonds and got to work rather vigorously, taking her anger and stress out on every strike she made to weld the diamonds into boots for the moody emperor.

"I must say, I'm impressed that a woman like yourself is capable of blacksmithing."

Anne paused to turn and glare at him.

"I see that in your world, men were sexist to women," she snarled and kept working.

In a couple of hours, Mateus was admiring his new boots and simply stalked off without even giving Anne a compliment. Anne slammed her hammer into her anvil in frustration before flopping back onto the bench for a quick nap.

"Oh sleeping beauty!" a high-pitched voice called "Wakey wakey! Or do I have to kiss you to wake you up?"

Anne jolted upright to a sitting position.

"Oh! Never mind!"

Kefka cackled as Anne rubbed her eyes and glared at him sleepily.

"What do you want?" she growled.

"I just thought that perhaps a little change in the clothing should do!" Kefka sat next to her and clapped his hands "Come, come now!"

Anne stood up.

"Stand so I can take your measurements and examine your armour!" she snapped.

"Ooo~! Is someone on their period?"

Anne raised her nailed bat, which sat neatly in the corner, as a warning. Kefka stood up, holding his hands up to calm her down and she placed her weapon down to start measuring him. She frowned as she took a handful of his shirt and examined it.

"Are you really only wearing a poncho?" she asked "I think a bard's tunic should help out a bit more, let me get my materials together…"

"Hey, if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

Anne nearly dropped some cloth at the statement and looked at him.

"Excuse me?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

Anne remembered Sephiroth telling her to not bother making sense of Kefka's words but Anne really wanted to answer him.

"Because no-one appreciates me here," she said as she sat down and got to work sewing up a bard's tunic for the insane mage.

Kefka began rambling and cackling about something as Anne furiously stitched and sewed the bard's tunic she had promised him. She winced as she accidentally pricked her finger.

"She pricked her finger!" Kefka shrieked "Is Sleeping Beauty going to fall asleep now?"

Anne snatched her bat and raised it at him.

"Please, toots!" Kefka scoffed "You don't have the guts to use your little play toy!"

Anne's brow twitched and she took a huge swing at him. Kefka howled as he jumped, only getting scrapes from the deadly sharp nails.

"OK! OK! I'll shut up!"

He hopped away as Anne placed her bat down and continued sewing. It seemed hours for poor Anne but after a half hour of dedicated sewing, Kefka was prancing off in his new tunic, leaving the poncho behind. Anne sighed exasperatedly and collapsed onto the bench, carefully examining the poncho to see if she could maybe use the material for something else.

"Excuse me, um…"

Anne looked up and saw Kuja standing at the foot of her little territory. She placed the poncho down.

"It's Anne, would you like my help?" she asked politely, not really expecting a polite response.

"Uh, yes actually," Kuja walked over to her and looked down at her "May I ask your opinion?"

"Um…sure, I guess," Anne shrugged.

"Do these boots match my outfit?"

Anne blinked and looked down at them.

"They look a bit worn," she said "I could make you a new set which can match your outfit just as well."

"I asked if they matched or not, dear," Kuja sighed as he tossed his hair.

"But I…"

Kuja simpered and petted her head.

"You're so naïve," he said "Doing extra for the Chaos members will only make them trick and take advantage of you."

"But…your boots will wear out…" Anne mumbled and Kuja tittered.

"You're cute. I can levitate, I don't walk much. They won't wear out too soon."

Kuja's feet left the ground as if to make a statement.

"I'd do your best to make sure I'm not trampled if I were in your position," he said "I'll see you later."

He flew off, leaving a rather confounded Anne.

"Anne, I'm back."

Anne's eyes lit up as she saw Sephiroth approach her and ran up to him, giving him a big hug. Sephiroth was nice, he was friendly and apparently they're from the same world. Anne sighed as she buried her nose into the leather of his jacket. She didn't know why, but it soothed her. As if she had done something like this before. She gasped as Sephiroth hugged her back and stroked her hair.

"Sephiroth, is something the matter?" she asked carefully but Sephiroth just hugged her tighter.

He picked her up and reclined on the bench, leaning against the wall for support. He held Anne in a protective embrace and stared ahead in thought. He sighed and closed his eyes, remembering the memories he had just recovered…


End file.
